Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness Resources

CDC's Pandemic Flu Website
"An influenza pandemic is a global outbreak of a new influenza A virus. Pandemics happen when new (novel) influenza A viruses emerge which are able to infect people easily and spread from person to person in an efficient and sustained way. The United States is NOT currently experiencing an influenza pandemic."

CDC's Emergency Preparedness and Response Page
CDC works 24/7 with state and local health departments to save lives and safeguard communities from public health threats. When states are prepared to detect or respond rapidly to threats, communities are better protected. CDC plays a critical role in preparing states because of its unique expertise in responding to infectious, occupational, or environmental incidents.

Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.

Emergency Preparedness Criteria -- Save the Children
1.2 million Gulf Coast residents evacuate in anticipation of the storm...163,105 children
in Louisiana and Mississippi are displaced following the storm...50,000 children in the region do not attend school during the 2005-06 school year six months after Katrina...the last of 5,192 children is united with family...37 percent of Louisiana Children experience clinically-diagnosed depression, anxiety, or behavior disorder.

Fred Friendly Seminar: Reporting on Terrorism
"Reporting on Terrorism: the News Media and Public Health," was the centerpiece of the two-day conference at Columbia University in January 2004. Using a hypothetical scenario, the panelists explore the news media's role in a major urban health crisis in an American city. Fred Friendly Seminars, Inc. produced the conference in collaboration with the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

NACCHO National Profile of Local Health Departments
NACCHO releases the National Profile of Local Health Departments report on its new Profile website, www.nacchoprofilestudy.org. The most report demonstrates continued funding cuts across several programmatic areas at local health departments (LHDs), including emergency preparedness. Funding for emergency preparedness, particularly per capita funding, saw a significant drop in 2013, with LHDs reporting median per capita funding of $1.15 in 2013 compared to $2.07 per capita in 2010.

National Association of County and City Health Officials
NACCHO supports efforts that protect and improve the health of all people and all communities by promoting national policy, developing resources and programs, seeking health equity, and supporting effective local public health practice and systems.

Outbreaks: Protecting Americans from Infectious Diseases
The report includes a report card for how well states scored on 10 indicators of strategies being used to prevent and control infectious disease outbreaks. Some topics Ebola, Chikungunya and Chagas; antibiotic-resistant Superbugs; healthcare-associated infections; whooping cough and tuberculosis; HIV/AIDS and hepatitis; and the ability to respond to bioterrorism attack

Public Health Preparedness 101
Over a decade ago, the nation faced tremendous threats during the September 11th and
anthrax tragedies. Medical and public health professionals were immediately called on to
respond to the crisis, and responded heroically—despite limited resources. It quickly
became clear that public health system needed to be updated in order to respond to
emergent health threats, giving rise to the notion of public health preparedness: the ability
of our public health system to quickly, effectively, and actively respond to any health
disaster that may strike. Prevention, identification, and containment of disease outbreaks,
bioterrorism, and natural disasters remain pivotal components of a public health system
which is prepared to address the needs of the country.

The American Hospital Association
The AHA is the national organization that represents and serves all types of hospitals, health care networks, and their patients and communities. Close to 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 37,000 individual members come together to form the AHA.

The National Report Card on Protecting Children During Disasters,
A Major Gap in More than Half of the States' Disaster Preparedness Regulations for Child Care Facilities Puts Many Vulnerable Children at Risk, Save the Children Reports. Called "The National Report Card on Protecting Children During Disasters," the report assesses all 50 states and the District of Columbia on four basic disaster preparedness and safety standards for children in child care and at school. Three of the standards focus on child care facilities and the fourth is for schools.